When diving in the Perth region of Western Australia, it is common to find a relatively lonely fish hovering in small confined spaces, watching larger animals swim past from its vantage. This fish has a deep marroon colour with glittering white-blue stripes. Measuring only a few inches and usually no bigger than a tennis ball the species scientifically named Apogon victoriae is a fantastic macro subject.

Not too flighty and cautiously curious this fish never completely hides making it common for images to have only a portion of the fish peeping out of its home. The eyes of this species are comparatively large in terms of its body size. This allows it too hunt for the small invertebrates such as copepods and amphipods often found on reefs and rocks in which it makes its home.

The male Red Stripe Cardinalfish is the main care taker of this species offspring. Mouth brooders such as this fish incubate fertile eggs in their mouth until the young are a few days old. While I haven't had the opportunity to take a picture of this behaviour I am constantly on the look out for this species in the hopes that I can share it with you here.

Ants! Apart from the poorly executed pun in the title this post is about that fun little effect known as anthropomorphism, and its application to ants.

So what is anthropomorphism? It is the effect best described as the application of human like traits to non human things. Have you ever thought an animal was smiling at you, or an object looked sad, that in essence is the core of anthropomorphism. While its important to not the psychology and its wide ranging effects are much deeper and detialed than what I've touched upon, you have at least gotten the gist of it.

So why ants? After all insects are hardly everyone's favourite things, but this differs for ants. Ants for a long time have captured the hearts of many Macro Photographers and nature enthusiasts alike. But why? My thoughts on this stem from the application of anthropomorphism. How many kids movies have there been about ants, there's even superheroes who take up the name.

So why are we drawn to ants? Is it because like us they build vast cities and live complex lives within a larger community? Is it because they are likened to a hard working person at many companies, or their teamwork? What ever the reason it's not hard to see why we apply human traits to ants, with so many similarities between humans and ants we easily see them as microcosms of human society.

While it may seem like the title to a children's book, the Gloomy Octopus or 'Octopus tetricus' is infact a real species. Found in Australian waters this species grows quite large and is commonly found wedged into crevices and between rocks.

When diving in Australia if you're careful enough to keep a look out for these critters you can easily find them by following the trail of crab shells, mussel shells and other bivalve shells to their hidden lair. An exceptionally strong cephalopod these octopus can use shells and other debri as literal shields blocking the entrance to their home.

Notice his shell shield?

If you look closely at the pictures featured you will notice a shell in the bottom left hand corner. This particular octopus would use this shell as a door, closing it everytime I got too close. We played this game of cat and mouse for a while until it got comfortable enough with me to get these pictures.

Like others of its family the Gloomy Octopus has remarkable camouflage abilities, able to recreate exceptional patterns and textures to pinpoint accuracy. Often times you can easily overlook an octopus until you see its eye. While this species are labeled as 'gloomy' you can often coax them from their homes simply by looking at them, intensely curious, this octopus is always inspecting new objects and animals, a sure sign of intelligence in my books.

How about yourself? Have you noticed octopus behaviours while diving? Let me know in the comments below.